The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-11-01

advantageous to the main Surprised
by his victim. he has nothing on him,
and that permits him to protest his in
nocence with vehement indignation. II
the main is arrested by an inexperi-
enced agent of police, his protestations
are usually successful, for nothing
compromising is found on his person.
and the agent is afraid of making q
mistake"
"How many robberies of this kind
are committed in Paris dailyp"
-Four or five hundred. At least two
thirds of them 60 UNPUBLISHED. There
are pickpockets everywhere. A couple
of weeks ago. at the wedding of the
niece of the Minister of the Interior, .
rascal in full dress and with the appear
snce of a gentleman picked a dozsh
pockets. By the barest accident h
was arrested Two detectives that hap
pened to be passing saw him throw
something into a cellar window. A
pockct-book struck one of the bars Of
the window and bounded back upon
the pavement. The fellow was arrested
and taken to the station. where over
1000 francs were found upon his per-
son. In the cellar, which had not been
used for long time. were found more
than $50 pocket-boOks.
"The ruses these rascals often en-
ploy are exceedingly shrewd. An old
pickpocket, with whom l have had
some dealings, told me story, not
long ago. about magistrate in the
provinces who thought himself alto
gether too smart for pickpockets- You
need, he said, TO take only few very
simple precautions to battle them COM
pletely. ] always put my pocket-book
into double pocket that my wife has
made between my vest and my shirt.
With my overcoat buttoned from top to
bottom over this secret pocket, 1 think
the pickpockets would have to be pref
ty cunning to steal my money He
went to the fair and defied every un-
known passer-by in whom he thought
he recognized the famous pickpockets
of whom he had talked so much. As
an extra precaution he held his hands
carefully crossed over his breast-a
certain sign for the pickpocket that
that was where his money was secured.
This is the way he was despoiled or VI:
A long. thin lamp-wick was dextrously
put down his back and lighted at an
end left above his coat collar. The
mains and ,sonnes awaited results.
When the fire reached his neck he
yelled and hoped about like a mad
man, and the mains kindly rushed to
his assistance. They found it neces-
sary, of course, to strip off his coat, and
it hardly need be told that his money
was soon in their possession.
The imagination of pickpockets is
fertile in ingenious stratagems. They
smell out, as it were, the good tricks
to take, and like to operate on large
scale. When a big robbery has been
planned, and the robbers are sure of a
big stake, every means is put in use to
obtain it Their intelligence always
gives birth to the shrewdest combina-
tons Not long ago a wealthy con-
tractor drew sixty-five thousand francs
from bank, put it into small hand
satchel, and got into a carriage to be
driven to the Hotel de Vile. The car
riage had not gone three hundred feet
before the money was stolen. The
thing seemed inexplicable, but it had
been easy enough for the robbers. The
carriage had scarcely left the bank
when several persons rushed into the
street and picked up a man who was
screaming as If frightfully injured. 1t
was supposed that he had been run
over by an omnibus which had Just
gone by at rapid pace. In appear
ance he seemed seriously wounded. In
reality he was not hurt at all, and Just
here was the mystery of the robbery.
The clever thieves had invented this
scheme to attract attention, and thanks
to its success an sccomplice of the
pretended wounded man had stolen
the satchel from the carriage while the
owner was leaning out of the window
to see what had happened.
sin this class of pickpockets you
have designated only men; but among
the women you must have found curl
Gus typesp"
mot many. You see them at the
railroad stations, at the boat landings,
at the theaters. on the promenades, in
the museums, and in the large stores.
They attack only women. They are
intelligent, shrewd and audacious.
Germany sends us the greatest number
IT female pickpockets, but they are
not the most adroit. The English
women have carried this kind of rob-
berry almost to the height of an
art Maneuvering from choice with
the left hand. they always keep
the right hand gloved. Span
ch